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Browser is all about giving the user an awesome experience. I realized this fact last year, when I updated my Firefox. Within two weeks, I was in love with Firefox. The force was so strong that I decided to make a complete switch. I had realized all the years spent on other browsers, I wasn’t browsing internet right. Wondering what made me switch? Below, you’ll find your answers.

1. Ultra-Secure Privacy

Firefox is a beast when it comes to protecting your privacy. In fact, its the only browser that does really care about your privacy. From the option of tracking protection to Ghostery, Firefox has tons of option to strengthen your privacy. It also comes with a dedicated Forget button, which is a one click option to clear your browser’s history.

On the other hand, other browsers such as Chrome, keep track of all your records & history to ensure its ads are most relevant. Once you understand how the internet works, you realize how badly your browser had been peeping into your life & tricking you. Privacy isn’t supposed to be a gift but your right.

2. Better Add-Ons

Firefox offers a wide variety of add-ons. Other browsers such as chrome are way behind in the add-on advancement. For instance, getting this extension on Firefox, lets you download Youtube videos without any trouble.

Chrome, has a huge extension market but it seems as if it doesn’t wants you to use them. Often you are required to change multiple settings to use the extension. Thus giving the users an unnecessary pain.

3. Respecting Your Mother Tongue

If you are a type of person, that loves his country and respects his regional languages, you have another reason to support Firefox. Being a Mozilla Localizer, I know how seriously Firefox loves your regional languages.

Being an Indian, I love Hindi. Try using, Firefox in Hindi v/s Rest Browsers in Hindi, to feel the difference. Be careful though, once you realize how carelessly rest browsers including Chrome have been taking your regional language, you might get seriously offended.

4. Security

Firefox has proved itself when it comes to keeping its users secure. It was Firefox that blocked Adobe Flash Player because of a bug that revealed a serious vulnerability issue with the flash player. If you do not want hackers to enter your life, you do have a very strong reason to switch to Firefox and put your worries to end.

5. Reader’s View Mode

Be it blog posts or item descriptions, if you are a kind of user that reads over the internet, you will definitely thank Firefox for the readers view mode. Reading becomes a pleasure once you click & go into the reader’s view mode. Safari does offer the same while Chrome again, has still been neglecting its users in this area.

6. Open Source

If you are a computer science geek, you already are familiar with the word “open-source”. While Chrome & Safari continue to not become open source browsers, Firefox stills stand firm to its commitment to Open Source.

With better customization options & tech-support, Firefox has always loved its users. Firefox is the only browsers that listens to its users rather than shareholders. Time & time, Firefox has proven its commitment to its users by taking bold moves & actions.

I have been helping people with their browser related issues, and I have seen that the more you use Firefox, the more you love it. If you use Firefox, and still don’t love it, you probably haven’t been using it right. If you have any issues with your browser, feel free to come up, I would love to help. Use Firefox the right way, you’ll love it.

It was a bright warm day on October 5th, 2015 when I had to organize a “Moz-Session” for freshers of Electronics & Communication Engineering. The primary purpose of the event was to spread awareness about the need of a better web among freshers. This event happened in collaboration with Robotics Society of Integral University.

Disclaimer: This post is going to be a long one. If you’re low on time you may skip to the Recap Section of this post. Also, I would recommend you reading the Major Challenge part.

Preparation

Being the primary organizer & the sole speaker, I had to plan a lot of things for the event. Although, I have done the same on past occasions, but this time it was special as I have walked into my final year of graduation & I was going to deal with freshers. Yes, the primary audience of this event was first year students.

On the University Firefox Club’s behalf, I widely promoted this event. From classroom announcements & notice boards to Digital Media, I ensured that the event was heard by every student even if he wasn’t the targeted audience. I believe events are a golden opportunity to promote the Club. The event was supposed to be held on 5th October at Seminar Hall, Civil Block of the University.

Event Poster

A couple of days before the event, the venue had to be switched to VLSI Lab, Civil Block of the university because of some technical & academic issues. Also, WiFi wasn’t working in the Seminar Hall. I was left with around 8 working college hours. I had to change my plans & strategy overnight, to ensure the wanted output. I knew, this last venue shift and moreover having an event in Laboratory meant that I now was going to face entirely new different challenges such as getting permission for photography, permission for non-department students to use the departmental laboratories, setting up projector in laboratory and tons. Not only this, having an event in laboratory meant that students wont be able to carry their laptops to switch to Firefox Browsers. The last moment change had put me in some trouble. If it’s one thing I have learned during my college life, it is “Be it a Practical Viva Exam or a challenge, you require confidence to win“. And hence, I remained confident of solving the problems.

Event Day Setup

I began setting up the VLSI Lab for the event & solving the issues. As you can see in the image, the projector screen had to be kept on desks to reach a greater height & be visible from last desks.

I got approval for photography with a limited access. Although, I had to sacrifice the no.of attendees. Mechanical department freshers weren’t able to join the event and hence limiting the attendee count to somewhere between 25-35. Although, as I promised to FSA E-Board, I will hit the 100 attendees count by conducting a similar event for mechanical engineering department students next week. I was able to sort out the rest of the problems except one major problem.

Major Challenge & Best Part

In my University, everyone is provided with a unique login-id & password for accessing University Internet and every user is provided with limited 5GB data. In addition to this, students ID’s have a restricted internet access & the link for downloading Firefox browsers wasn’t going to open with any student’s account anymore.

Meanwhile, after hours of chat with the department concerned faculties, the faculties were now happy switching the lab to Firefox Hindi. Attending the recent Hindi l10n meetup helped me here giving me valuable points to talk about. Now I had the permission to install & set Firefox as default browsers in the Laboratory PC’s. However, getting the link to open still remained a challenge. Setting up a custom WiFi environment wasn’t going to help a the PC’s in laboratory can’t run internet over WiFi. The only solution to this was to login via a teacher’s login ID & download Firefox. However, this was tricky, as a user can login only at one system at any instant. So now I knew, I had to do some arrangement for converting the lab to Firefox Hindi. Now, I had to talk to teachers & get their support with their Login ID’s & passwords for downloading Firefox. It’s never easy to share your data when you’ve only got 5GB of it.
I wonder if it was Mozilla’s mission (or) the love my faculties had for me that made them share their login ID’s & passwords. Whatever the reason be, I am thankful to my teachers & I hope they’ll keep their blessings upon me. I started downloading Firefox browser in PC’s with three login ID’s I was able to get quickly. Not only this, two faculties namely, Shirish Bajpai Sir, Dr. Monauwer Alam Sir themselves downloaded Firefox browsers personally. Monauwer Alam Sir was happy to install Firefox Browser.

Meet Monauwer Sir While Installing Firefox Hindi

I was even invited to install Firefox Hindi Browser in the Computer used by Hon’ble Head of Department, S.H. Saeed Sir. I won’t be able to share certain photographs at the instant due to Photography Restrictions.

During Event

I started the event with introductions and welcoming the attendees. Next, I talked about how the world around is changing. The web is a world of opportunities now & I wanted the freshers to realize it. I started talking about the main reasons, this event was being conducted. Also, at this point I told them about importance of Firefox in regional languages & how updating to Windows 10 had played with default browsers.

Meanwhile, a fresher, expressed that she was hungry. Luckily, I was expecting these kinds of things, so I had already arranged for a couple of packet of chips.

You Get To Eat To Chips in Lab While You’re Attending an IUFC Event

Next, I introduced the students to FOSS. The students came up with their understandings & realizations about FOSS. It was swag time for the best answers. It is essential that people especially students do realize that open source produces the best products. Next, I introduced them to Mozilla. I told them about Mozilla had been one of the biggest parts of the FOSS world. I also told them the various reasons why it is important to contribute to the development of FOSS.

Questions on Keyboards

I had hidden some questions written on sticky notes underneath the keyboards of the computers. I started this activity. Meanwhile, students were invited to continue downloading Firefox Hindi in laboratories. Students helped us with the same.
I also told them about how can they make Firefox default browser in Windows 10.

I told them about Webmaker & Webmaker Tools. I also had arranged for a session on X-Ray Goggles. The students tried their hands on it. Seeing the students interest & enthusiasm, I also taught them the HTML basics. The students did all this on Firefox Hindi browsers. They had never used a Hindi browser earlier, & hence they were having a few difficulties. I was happy to help them out with the same.

Had to move to Chalks To Teach HTML Basic Page

I also told them about various contribution areas in Mozilla. At last. I told them about Firefox OS and Firefox OS development. Hold on a sec ! Did I missed about FSA ? Surprise 😉

We continued this event for around 3:30 PM. Now, I wanted to wind up the event by inviting the students to be a part of the Firefox Club and join the FSA program. I started talking about FSA program & my journey. Surprisingly, I am happy to say that, HoD sir, himself walked into the speaker zone at this instant and asked the students to join the FSA program. I recall, he said that forming a University Firefox Club was a good beginning which shouldn’t be lost after I pass out from my University. He expressed his happiness seeing the session proceedings & impact of FSA’s. He was amazed to see how Mozillians had been doing good & breaking methods for the development of community. He expressed his feelings & memories while seeing the Fx OS Development book.

Meet Head of Department, Hon’ble S.H. Saeed Sir.

Last, we invited the students to come up again, and share their experience about the “Moz-Session”. A student said that this was a very different kind of event that he had ever attended. When asked “why & how”, he responded by saying that he was a boring traditional workshop session but was surprised to had a fun event. He added that it never seemed like a workshop but a some kind of party like celebration to him.

Student Who Said That “This Was a very unique event”

I interacted with the students for a couple of students helping them with the questions they had. After a few more minutes we ended the session. Thanks to Nitin & Fareed for assisting in photographing the session.

A Quick Recap

Downloaded & installed Firefox Browsers in Hindi in 20+. Apart from the 20 count, a few PC’s in the laboratory run on Zorin OS and Firefox Browser wasn’t getting installed on the PC’s.

University’s VLSI lab now runs on Firefox Hindi Browser.

Two faculties agreed with Mozilla’s mission & can be using Firefox nowadays. they themselves downloaded Firefox Hindi browsers.

Firefox Hindi Browser Installed in HoD Sir’s Office.

Taught the attendees how to make Firefox default browser in Windows 10.

The last moment venue shift did affect the attendee count. To reach the targeted 100 attendee count, a similar event is being organized separately for Mechanical freshers on the same Firefox Hindi Browser’s Powered PC’s.

Having an event in laboratory has its own challenges. Further I was very low on resources & helping hands. Hence I couldn’t get all the happy moments captured on a camera.

It was the evening of September 26th, 2015 when I dropped at Hari Om Traders, a Patanjali Ayurved store for a Moz-Session.The purpose of the session was to spread awareness about FOSS to students. The group consisted of 5 students. Four of the attendees were college students while one of them is about to walk into graduation journey next year.

I started the session with clarifying the agenda for the meetup. Next, I started a discussion on how technology & generations have been evolving around us. I am always mesmerized to see my niece who mastered unlocking and playing her favorite video rhymes on Ipad within the first year of her life. Whereas, when I compare myself against her, the only thing that I was good at was eating mud.

Next, I talked about FOSS and its importance. I told them what makes FOSS awesome and an essential component of our life. We talked about various FOSS alternatives such as Libre Office, Ubuntu etc.

Next, I told them about Mozilla and what separates Mozilla from the rest. I also showed them the Mozilla Story. No wonder they loved it.

We also had a discussion on why spreading Web Literacy is much needed. I told them about Firefox in Hindi and about the importance of a localized browser in diverse country such as India. I also them about FSA program and contribution areas in Mozilla.

The guy on the right downloaded Firefox Hindi on his laptop.

We sat together for a couple more minutes and discussed on various questions that they had. Once, their questions were answered, we ended the session.

It was 12th Sept, 2015 when I was supposed to return back to Parijat Palace to host a Kitchen Party. Since, it was raining heavily that day, we had to change the plans a little bit. Instead of hosting the event at Parijat Palace, everyone decided to drop at a relative’s house. Although it was a bit unfortunate that a couple of people couldn’t join us due to rainfall.

I had recently attended Mozilla Hindi l10n Meetup at Delhi. The attendees were curious to know my experience. Hence, the party started with sharing my experience and the things I learned at the meetup. After the discussion, we moved to the agenda of the party. Since Samarth (to my right), was a complete novice to coding, I started the discussion about basics of HTML.

Next, we moved to play with X-Ray Goggles. Satyam (to my left), had some previous experience with X-Ray Goggles. Although for Samarth, X-Ray Goggles was a completely new tool. I spent around 45 minutes on demonstrating and explaining them about Webmaker and my makes. Next, it was the turn of the attendees to try their own.

At times, Samarth, seems veteran in knowing how to make me smile. My past couple of days, hadn’t been going as good as usual. But, after seeing this remix by Samarth, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

Remix by Samarth

Even though, the remix made by him, was quite easy but it still convinced me to give him a spare Firefox sticker I had left. Two reasons that I did so were:

As a thank you gift for sharing Firefox love.

It was his first encounter with tech-stuff. Hope it inspires him to continue exploring further.

The party lasted for another 30 minutes as Satyam tried his hands with X-Ray Goggles. Satyam remixed, one of published remixed version of http://www.bhindiwala.com
Since, it was getting pretty dark, we wished each other a good night and left for the way back to home.

If you ever seen me carrying a pen drive, there is a good chance you have thrown me a question “WOW! Man how did you got this Firefox USB Drive?“. Whatever be the occasion, if I have the pen drive with me, I have been facing this very same question. Hence, I am writing this post to unlock the mystery and refresh some memories.

15th August, the day when India got its Independence. How can one not love such a marvelous country.

We, at MozUP had decided to celebrate this Independence Day with Underprivileged Kids. We joined Youth Eve and Isupportfoundation in this celebration near Neelgiri Complex, Lucknow.

The celebration started with Flag Hosting followed by National Anthem.
And distributed snacks between the underprivileged kids. It was great to those little faces filled with smile. How ironical, the country talks about digitized India and still struggling for a Independent Internet. #RealNetNeutrality #facepalm

Next, we had a National flag tattoo painting session. Everyone got Tri-colored. The little kids were so excited to get themselves the tattoo, that they were even skipping their snacks.

While the kids were getting themselves a Tri-Color Tattoo, we started introducing them to our laptops. We held their little fingers in our hands, and taught them a couple of very basic things like opening a file, playing default games etc.

We had a dance and movie session. Wish I had the dance videos to share. the little kids were so talented dancers. Those moves made me go “OMG!!”.

Lastly, we had a photography session.

It was real joy to celebrate the Independence Day with the future of the country.